Fall 2021 Newsletter 

Ethnobotany Stories 

By Ally Arganbright, AMLT Communications Intern 

Ethnobotany is the study of the human relationship with plants. Each AMLT newsletter will highlight a native plant that is used by the Amah Mutsun. We hope you enjoy learning more about the useful and culturally significant plants all around us.

Mutsun name: huyhuy

English common name: Cutgrass 

Botanical name: Leersia oryzoides

Cut grass (huyhuy) is a 2 1/2-5 ft., prickly-leaved grass. The asymmetrically-shaped inflorescence often stays tucked inside the leaf sheath. Flower clusters stay close to the slightly drooping branches of the perennial grass’ inflorescence. This grass typically grows around marshes, gravelly seeps, low-lying areas along rivers and ponds, seasonal wetlands, and drainage ditches. This grass is often found in degraded wetlands with a history of disturbance, although it also occurs in higher quality wetland habitats.

There is record of Mutsun peoples using huyhuy seed as a food source, as well as a fiber for constructing a specific “berry basket” called sawwiy.

Please do not reproduce this material without permission.